New Clothing help!

[marblerun]

Hi everyone

My son who is 7 (high functioning asd) is having a real aversion to wearing new clothes. He has chewed his way through all his t shirts and is down to his last one that he will wear. I have just been reading about the chew sticks you can buy so will def try them, the problem is trying to convince him to wear new clothes. We have tried social storries, letting him choose, washing them, I even tried cutting out an outfit from a catalgue and sticking a photo of him at the top to show what he would look like. He generally gives the "I will try it on tomorrow, or in the spring" things don't match or are too big. He pulls his trousers up all the time as he is terrified of anyone seeing his pants. If his one t shirt is in the wash he is happy not to wear anything and will go out with just his coat on (rolled up sleeves). any advice as he has a drawer full of unused clothing!

thanks in anticipation

[Moll]

If he pulls his trousers up all the time then what about dungarees these might appeal to him.

 

If it was me as soon as he liked something I'd go and buy 4.

 

Does he like a TV show if so would he wear their logo clothes like Ben 10

 

Have you also tried nearly new or ebay to see if you can get a replacement of his fave stuff

[NobbyNobbs]

i was advised to buy as many of an item of clothes as is possible or viable price-wise. then start him wearing all of them straight away, dont put some away for when the others wear out, they'll all feel wrong if they're like new. if you buy him 10 of the same shirt you can have a whole week of clean clothes that all wash and wear at the same rate, and because there are so many they'll last a long time! try to get them from a store that will keep the same cut and type of fabric even if they change the pattern printed on it, because obviously he'll need to size up at times. for me, its the feel of the clothes more than the colour that bothers (i can wear blue, green, brown and black shirts, but they must be certain thickness of cotton, the sleves must be a certain length etc.)

 

also perhaps have him sleep with the shirts when they're new, then wear them for the first time. okay they wont be fresh and clean, but they'll smell like him, and be soft from moving around in the bed so escape that 'new clothes' feel and smell.

 

i saw my favorite type of socks in the sales a little while back, with their replacement next to them. the new ones were a different type of fabric and a different cut, so i bought up all the old ones in my size and i now have 23 pairs of them in my drawer!

[stressedmum]

I have similar problems with my son. He would only wear a certain type of jogging bottoms that Decathlon sold, then they stopped selling them

Thankfully, we managed to find some pretty much identical on ebay so ordered seven pairs!

We are currently having the same issues with his tops he only has a couple left and one of them has a hole in the arm but he won't be convinced to try anything else

[Suze]

Just wondered if you could introduce new clothes by getting him to wear them on top of the old ones?

[lynne]

 

 

I have to wash my sons new clothes at least 3 times to get them soft.

 

Also I avoid certain fabrics and do not buy any T-shirts with seams in the body.

 

 

My son is into dragons so we have found several T-Shirts with dragons on (no body seams) so we have brought a lot of them and also the next size up. That way we do not have a problem.

[marblerun]

Thanks everyone for your great suggestions and tips!

 

We had some success today in a way I would have never thought of trying - in fact it was my hubbys idea. We were having the usual battle having come back from a muddy walk, didnt want to change clothes etc and my son ended up curled up under his duvet hiding. He agreed (with some convincing from hubby) if I held his hand at one end that his dad would put on new jeans under the covers-bizarre I know but hey ho it worked!! He didnt like it much and I had to reasure the whole time but I think the whole problem is he hates seeing the new stuff going onto him so by putting it on under the duvet it seemed to be ok!!!! he then put on a new t shirt (first time in months) and said "its not as a bad as I thought" I nearly burst into tears! so yes I think we will be buying a heap of sonic the hedgehog t shirts. it always amazes me that a on going problem can be solved with a simple change of an idea!

 

thanks again, i love this site

[Suze]

Thats fab news , while you seem to be on a roll as it were, keep up the momentum of trying new stuff, so even though your getting t-shirts that are the same as the new one he,ll wear, try some others too, he might be over coming his fear a little more and be open to more suggestions

[lynne]

 

 

 

Also warming up the clothes can help, as alot of our children do not like temperture change in clothes.

 

 

I am glad you have had success.

[julie1]

hi my son and youngest daughter also have the same problem, my son is 13 now and we have for the past 3 years asked him to touch the clothes before we buy them, he will then say yes or no. if its a no i dont bother buying as he will not wear them. He does not like any logos or bright colours.

My daughter is only 3 and is not able to choose clothes she will say no to everything she would prefer to have no clothes on, or never change her clothes, anyway i no things will get better as she grows we are always positive and just try to go with what suits her. She has worked out that if she has no clothes on she does not have to go out that suits her as well.